The athletes, who still have until mid-July to qualify, made themselves known at this presentation that took place in Bilbao, specifically at the Hotel Ilunion Bilbao. The event, which was chaired by the Director of Physical Activity and Sports of the Basque Government, Jon Redondo, was also attended by the Director of Communication of the Spanish Paralympic Committee, Luis Leardy; with the president of the Basque Federation of Adapted Sports, Javier Conde; and with the coordinator of the Basque Team Fundazioa Foundation, Olatz Legarza.
On behalf of the preselected athletes from the Community, Asier García (wheelchair basketball) and Higinio Rivero (canoeing) participated. Likewise, the triathlete Rakel Mateo and the swimmer Íñigo Llopis were also present at this press conference.
During the presentation, the Director of Communication of the Spanish Paralympic Committee, stressed that the athletes “have faced a complicated situation marked by uncertainty.” “There are 12 days of competition in which 22 sports meet, where we also premiere badminton and taekwondo,” he said. In the same way, he said that in total, about 190 people are expected to travel to the Japanese capital, of which 115 will be Paralympic athletes, about 10 athletes will be guides and another 75 members of the Committee to carry out logistics and support. you need an event of this magnitude.
For his part, the Director of Physical Activity and Sports of the Basque Government, Jon Redondo, highlighted the importance of the Paralympic Games and the motivation of athletes in view of this event, “despite being conditioned by the pandemic and having to do without an audience ”.
Finally, the wheelchair basketball athlete, Asier García, assured that “we have the illusion set in Tokyo, we are going to go for the best possible score, I am thinking about winning and I know that it is a motivation that we all have. The objective is to cross the finish line with the best possible feeling ”. In the same way, the athlete Higinio Rivero commented on his possible classifications and the illusion deposited in the Games.
CLASSIFICATION
The athletes of this preselection of the Spanish Paralympic Team are not guaranteed their presence at the Tokyo Games. From among the more than 250 shortlisted athletes, the final list to attend the Games will come out, which will be made up of about 115 athletes and will become official in the first half of July.
At the moment, Spain has guaranteed 92 qualification places for the Games, 88 for athletes with disabilities plus four for support athletes, divided into ten modalities: basketball (24), swimming (24), athletics (18), soccer-5 (10), table tennis (6), cycling (2), canoeing (5), rowing (1), taekwondo (1) and shooting (1). In addition, you still have options to expand the quota in some of these modalities, as well as to participate in seven other sports: badminton, wheelchair fencing, weightlifting, judo, wheelchair tennis, archery and triathlon.
The aim is to classify about 125 athletes, 115 of them with disabilities plus about 10 supporters (guides, goalkeepers or pilots). To fill these places, the Spanish federations that encompass the Paralympic modalities have preselected some 250 athletes. In the last Paralympic Summer Games, those of Rio 2016, the Spanish delegation won 31 medals and 101 diplomas.
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